Imagine a bunch of political mobsters busting their way into any nation’s “independent” corruption watchdog, installing one of their own at the top and forcing the resignation of the existing head who was investigating nine of these mobsters and was about to charge one of them and put him before a judge.
Welcome to Fiji, folks, the new Chicago of the South Seas where the Mob at the top has not only shut down those investigations but has now ordered the police they control to go after the person who was stupid enough to pursue them and charge her with abuse of office.
How’s that for a perverse outcome in the outrageous attack the Coalition government is mounting to bust the independence of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption and protect its own people. Al Capone would be seriously impressed.
And guess what Fiji? The silly opposition thinks that when the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, talks about an inquiry into events at FICAC, he is talking about the appropriateness of putting one of his mobsters in charge there. Not so. The PM’s deputy, Manoa Kamikamica, makes it clear that it will be an inquiry into the conduct of FICAC during the last government, not what is happening now. Got that, dummies?
Yes, the Coalition Mob has taken charge of our institutions of state and is comprehensively busting any remaining independence and remaking them in its own image. The corruption watchdog has been shot and its old handler is hiding out in Australia with the Fiji Police in hot pursuit. And don’t bother to ask why. Because it’s all her fault, Silly, for daring to defy the Mob.
And if after all of this you need more proof that Fiji has genuinely gone to the dogs under this government, they’ve now acknowledged that half the nation is living in poverty. Yes, not a third, which has been the generally accepted statistic until now, but half. In other words, 50 per cent of us are poor.
So what are they going to do about it? Well, guess what Fiji? They’re going to review the Constitution as part of their new National Development Plan. That’ll put lots of food on the table, won’t it? But of course, the Mob in power are alright. They’re wallowing like the pigs they are in the fresh injections of cash they gave themselves back in May.
Snouts in the trough and the rest of us treated like dogs. Yep, that’s Fiji under the “New Order”. Truly where happiness finds you. Woof.
Well, at least this story is now so big that the other mainstream media outlets can no longer ignore it. We must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose.
The PM is talking to lawyers outside government? Wylie Clarke and Richard Naidu? No, Richard Naidu is in government as Chair of the Fiscal Review Committee and is hopelessly compromised over Biman Prasad. Not that this would matter to any of them.
And Wylie Clarke – the President of the Fiji Law Society -is Barbara Malimali’s personal lawyer. Talk about conflicts of interest across a broad front.
UPDATE: WEDNESDAY PM:
Crikey, Fiji, it IS the Mob. Manoa Kamikamica wants “concrete action”. What? To tie Francis Puleiwai’s body to a concrete slab and throw her in the Rewa River?
Seriously. Just read this rubbish and tell me whether Manoa Kamikamica is fit to lead. He says the Coalition has “rebuilt trust” in government? WTF?
This grinning oaf lives in a parallel universe to the rest of us in which everything is hunky dory. No grasp on reality and totally unfit for high office.
Those bloody corrupt bastards. So glad she took off before they issued a stop-departure. Hope she applies for asylum out there. That makes 2 Francis’ in self-imposed exile downunder.
Both F’s will be granted asylum. I dont know how a convicted murderer can be granted such.
GRUBSHEET
A Simple “Google search” 2022 Facebook Post by that Shailendra Raju where he openly abused RFMFs Jone Kalouniwai, called him Lamusona.
Raju is now in Fiji vying to be next PM
The Raju’s who thought they were smart and were the mouthpieces of PAP and NFP. The Gulam’s too. What happened to them?
No high commission roles 😂
Not surprising really. From the outset the Coalition has shown that all they know how to do is finger point away from the stark reality of their own ineptitude.
Any wonder people with integrity are scared to speak up – it means they have to be prepared to leave their home and then live with the worry of their family being persecuted.
Yet another dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
I feel that FRANCIS PULEWAI will be returned to Fiji by the Albanese government at the behest of the Fiji mob.
Australia has been quite busy courting Rabuka.
But the most alarming part is the repugnant silence of the RFMF at a time when public trust in the government, police and judiciary has eroded.
This government needs to go.
Albanese Government can try and extradite Ms Puleiwai, there are Tribunals im Australia and Human Rights Advocates who will put Albanese to sleep. Look at those Asylum Detainees, Bikies Immigration Minister couldn’t deport.
So you want rhe RFMF Goon Squad to some sort out our polirical problems? Be careful what you wish for !
Ohhh..by the way, UN AGM next week. So, off he jets, with his mooch squad, on another all expense paid mini vacation to the US.
Meanwhile…the struggle continues. God help us!
More frenzied gesticulation that passes for traditional dancing yesterday at the launching of the National Development Plan and Vision 2050. It’s just a cut and paste of all the fuzzy global promises but when it comes to implementation, Deputy Prime Minister, MK, standing in for his boss who was indisposed, bluntly placed responsibility in we the people of Fiji, half of whom we are told already living below the poverty line.
I thought we might have at least had a multi cultural opening given our multicultural society, but, No.
Less than 12-hours after celebrating Prophet Mohammed’s birthday in which the nation paid homage to our Muslim community, a huge dead pig was lifted in and presented to the chief guest at the launch.
Surely they could have dispensed with that part?
The male dancers were dressed in grass skirts normally reserved for females as itaukei men back in the day wore the Malo, or loin wrap with a long masi trail.
All this needless paparazzi costs money. I am certain those who organise these events try their darndest to look for excuses to spend as much as they can.
Please if there is going to be a traditional ceremony make it inclusive if other races and also ensure it’s a real traditional ceremony, not fake gesticulations in fake garb.
Ok we ban pork to please the Mohammedans….then we ban cattle to please the Hindu’s….we also ban horse meat to please the Tongans…and dog meat to please the Chinese etc.
Let each culture practise its own rituals. Freedom of choice is a pillar of democracy.
Well, pork is not part of the diet of ‘Mohammedans’ Islam) only.
The SDA followers, Judaism, majority hindus, other Christian denominations too.
Educate your self. Long held prejudices can make it difficult to see others points.
Cattle, pork, and other meat were foreign Fiji.
You know full well what meat went in the lovo back in the day. Chill.
What we are seeing unfold before our very eyes is state capture by a group of political opportunists and the constitutional safeguards against this sort of thing happening have ceased to function.
God save Fiji democracy from these hooligans.
You forgetting something bro…they were voted in !
If not getting as many votes as FijiFirst at the election and then banding together to make it into government with just one seat on the floor of the parliament constitutes being “voted in” then I am the Tui Cakau.
They don’t have a legitimate mandate for anything other than keeping things ticking over, let alone to mount a fundamental assault on the nation’s institutions of state.
I dont understand where you coming from. So any Government with a one seat majority should sit tight with assholes clamped and do nothing for 4 years? Really?
No, I am not suggesting that. But they do not have an electoral mandate to upend the furniture altogether.
Isa Graham, the late Josevata Kamikamica was a.k.a. Mr Clean.
Yes, Jo Kamikamica was one of the finest Fijians of his generation and a man of impeccable integrity. His son is a disgrace.
First defending MP’s pay rises when half the country is living in poverty, then supporting the death penalty for drug traffickers and now justifying the Coalition capture of FICAC.
He must never be prime minister.
Was not Manoa moved on from Fiji Airways and same thing happened to him ANZ PNG.
Unfit to work in private companies.
Now will Malimali transfer her own complaint which is against her to Police? Cmon that’s only the right thing to do.
Fiji will one day in a not too distant future become a place for the old and retired and just some young people who may not have a chance to move to greener pastures.The taxpayer base will become almost zero. Everything we see crumbling now will have fallen to dust. Move out those who can, the rest save up for your future and medical needs. Etc. This country will never change.
You’re very optimistic. I thought you’d say it will be the next Uganda or Zimbabwe. Because it’s solidly on that trajectory.
DPM Biman’s signed message in the National Development Plan 2025-2029 says that in our journey to Vision 2050 for Fiji, “we must commit to governance and institutional reforms, and have zero tolerance for corruption.”
Under Moral and Ethical Values, the Plan states that “It will be an accountable Government with no tolerance for corruption.”
Then a commitment for the Government to “ensure that corruption is minimised”.
Then comes Fiji’s ambition to “preventing and combatting corruption…”
Key policy: “Reduce corruption and bribery in all forms while strengthening Fiji’s,anti-corruption effort”. Its strategy is “affirming independence of core anti-corruption operations”.
Blah, blah, the kind of language admired by development partners.
Lots of hot air, so corruption will continue and eventually diminish by 2050 when Rambo is 102.
The low life’s need to implement Section 121 of the Constitution.
Make law for the Transparency and Accountability Commission so that Guardian Councils can be set up in every District of Fiji.
You want to deal with Corruption, start with implementing whats in the Constitution and stop feeding us bull sh*t.
Bloody liars and hypocrites.
These are the mongrels that swore an oath on their respective religious books to uphold the Constitution, have they even ready it !
Welcome to Rabuka’s world.
The i-taukei fighting each other.
Poverty – 52%.
You are all welcome.
Come again.
Vote for Rabuka again.
So who should we vote in 2026? Mahen C ?
That is right, a dickhead is better than a kaindia, right?
Just like it is right now.
You can have anyone.
Rapists, drug dealers, woman bashers, womanisers.
Oh! But that makes part of the list now.
Just keep them.
They are the best.
No Fiji Indians or anyone needed.
You are all otherwise so smart.
MC is too wise to be part of that list unlike Biman. You can have Biman. He is a saint.
Whatever drugs this mob is on appears to be working. They use AI to cobble up answers and prepare their speeches. Fiji the way the world should not be.
Great job GD, thank you for keeping the Fiji electorate informed.
GD …you have a nice way of introducing this latest piece with “…Imagine a bunch of political mobsters busting their way into any nation’s “independent” corruption watchdog, installing one of their own at the top and forcing the resignation of the existing head who was investigating nine of these mobsters and was about to charge one of them and put him before a judge”.
—you know best since the same happened in 2006 and you joined him a few moons later…sad indeed.
Your memory is clearly failing you because the Bainimarama government set up FICAC. There was no corruption watchdog until they did.
And a “few moons” later? I didn’t join Qorvis as a consultant on its Fiji account until late 2012 and after an election timetable had been set. But please feel free to be sad. Not that it will help.